DVD review: Buried
Mar. 19th, 2011 10:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanuensis1(Okay, movie reviews are cheery and fannish, yeah? Even if the movies are grim? Well, it's a nice transition.)
Buried is a dancing bear of a film, not to be judged too harshly at how it executes its pretense because it's remarkable it was allowed to be made this way at all. Buried takes place in a coffin. Completely in a coffin. No scenes of the action outside at all. No flashbacks, thank god. There's a cell phone in that coffin, so we're allowed images and there are lots of outside voices, but that's it. All Ryan Reynolds all the time.
It's not as Blair-Witch-y as I had expected (hoped?). There are multiple camera angles and a few stylized shots, so it's a bit roomy for a coffin-limited film. I have criticisms but I'm still delighted someone made an hour-and-a-half film under these circumstances without any bloody flashbacks.
I would have preferred a little more Blair Witch-ness to the style. Part of the reason films like Blair Witch and Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity--notice these are all horror films that have used this structure? Would like to discuss that at some point--work so well is the lack of music (and other conventional "look, things are getting creepy!" filmmaking cues) ratchets up the horror in a stark way. A couple of elements took on eye-rolling, "Of course that's got to happen next," disbelief and the music just added to the silliness. But it did need those multiple camera angles to sustain a film that long, so, at least a little polish of that nature worked well for it.
Am very pleased this film was made, even if I didn't unconditionally love it. Or, well, love it. Worth the watch, though. Glad I saw it.
Buried is a dancing bear of a film, not to be judged too harshly at how it executes its pretense because it's remarkable it was allowed to be made this way at all. Buried takes place in a coffin. Completely in a coffin. No scenes of the action outside at all. No flashbacks, thank god. There's a cell phone in that coffin, so we're allowed images and there are lots of outside voices, but that's it. All Ryan Reynolds all the time.
It's not as Blair-Witch-y as I had expected (hoped?). There are multiple camera angles and a few stylized shots, so it's a bit roomy for a coffin-limited film. I have criticisms but I'm still delighted someone made an hour-and-a-half film under these circumstances without any bloody flashbacks.
I would have preferred a little more Blair Witch-ness to the style. Part of the reason films like Blair Witch and Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity--notice these are all horror films that have used this structure? Would like to discuss that at some point--work so well is the lack of music (and other conventional "look, things are getting creepy!" filmmaking cues) ratchets up the horror in a stark way. A couple of elements took on eye-rolling, "Of course that's got to happen next," disbelief and the music just added to the silliness. But it did need those multiple camera angles to sustain a film that long, so, at least a little polish of that nature worked well for it.
Am very pleased this film was made, even if I didn't unconditionally love it. Or, well, love it. Worth the watch, though. Glad I saw it.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 04:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-20 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 11:35 pm (UTC)Doesn't he die at the end?
no subject
Date: 2011-03-20 01:29 am (UTC)WILL PUT RESPONSE IN WHITE BELOW
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Date: 2011-03-20 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-20 01:30 am (UTC)